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Show 1882.] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. 185 p j has become much raised anteriorly ; its talon is large, while the anterior cusp of the same tooth in Crossarchus here aborts, p-^ and p-2 are very long and strong, p-y is absent. The anus opens into the middle of a very deep fossa, deeper than that of Bdeogale, and like that of Crossarchus. There is also a curious scrotum-like prominence between the vagina and the anus. I have not met with any description of the anal glands other than that of Daubenton, who says1:-"II se trouvoit de chaque cote de l'anus une poche qui avoit quatre lignes et demi de longueur, et trois lignes et demie de largeur, et trois lignes d'epaisseur; le tuyau excretoire de chacune de ces poches aboutissoit au dedans de l'anus.' I strongly suspect, from the form of the anal pouch, that there are here, as in Crossarchus, several pairs of anal glands. The claws of the manus of Suricata are enormously elongated (cf. fi*. 14, H , p. 192). Those of the pes are much less so, but still are long. Except as above indicated, the characters of this genus agree with those of Herpestes; and with it closes the list of the genera of the subfamily Herpestina. That subfamily is divisible in various ways, according to the number of digits, the number of teeth, the presence or absence of a subnasal groove, and the number of anal glands, as follows :- Section A. Anal glands a single pair Herpestes, Helogale, Cynictis 1, Rhinogale 1 „ B. Anal glands in several pairs .. Crossarchus, Suricata, Bdeogale 1 Or, Section A. Toes 5 - 5 Herpestes, Helogale, Rhinogale, Crossarchus. „ B. Toes 5-4 Cynictis. „ C. Toes 4-4 Bdeogale, Suricata. Or, Section A. A subnasal groove Herpestes, Helogale, Cynictis, Bdeogale. „ B. N o subnasal groove Rhinogale, Crossarchus, Suricata. Or, Section A . Pm. ^ Herpestes (generally), Cynictis, Bdeogale. „ B. Pm. g, g, no diastema .... Helogale, Crossarchus, Suricata. „ C. Pm. ^ 2 Rhinogale. The characters of the subfamily Herpestina will be as follows :- (1) Claws not strongly curved and not retractile, but pointed and very long. (2) Orbits sometimes enclosed by bone. i Buffon's Hist. Nat. vol. xiii. p. 80. 2 Probably an abnormality. |